El Garrador
by Mechanical Phoenix
Summary: A short novelization of Leon's first fight against the Garrador. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, but I DO own a few of the games. :)**

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El Garrador

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Leon paused in the archway, his attention focused on the chamber below him. Crumbled stone steps led down into what looked like a storage place that had not been filled up. The smell simultaneously reminded Leon of a very old basement and human feces; his nose wrinkled at the stench.

_Why in the name of hell would they lock this place up? _thought Leon, as his eyes scanned the pathetic place. _Only reasons I can think of are to guard something…or to use it like a prison. It would explain the door._

_Still, I can't see anything that would seem useful, at least from here. Which means I have to go in to find out._

_Great._

"Ashley," Leon said, his attention now directed at the 20-year old blond next to him, "I'm going down there to see if I can find something useful. You stay here."

"Ok.." Came her reply, as she watched her protector descend the staircase. His shotgun held in front of him in an almost lazy way, he began to sweep the stone chamber.

_Hmm…no ammo, no healing items, no boxes labeled "Really Really useful items that the Ganado's seemingly cannot use but Leon can" …What in the name of fuck is that?_

Leon's last thought coincided with his stop of hunting through the room as his eyes landed on the monster that lay chained in the cell in front of him. It was a good head taller than Leon, clad in simple brown pants and black boots. Thick metal straps crossed around it's body, up it's bare chest, on it's arms. A metal cage locked it's head in place, which held no distinguishing appearances to the man it may have once been, for it's eyes had been sewn shut, and the dried blood indicated it was recently. Steel claws had been attached to both of it's arms, and the dirt and grime gave it the appearance of a homeless man. It was, quite thoroughly, a disgusting creature.

Leon's disgust, however, soon lightenedto irritation when he saw what else was in the cell: a lever, almost certainly connected to those flame-throwing dragons that were guarding the doorway upstairs, so he had to go in there.

_Just my luck _Leon thought as he stepped up to the cell's door, glad that at least it would be easy to get in because of the rusty state of the door. He took a solid kick at it, the door shuddering at the sudden force against it; another kick and the door fell straight off its hinges.

Leon stepped into the room, putting a wide berth between him and the chained man. _Now all I have to do was just pull the switch and get-_

The rest of his thought was pushed away when the chained freak let out a yell; it flexed against its bonds, which broke with ease against it's strength. "SHIT!" Leon fell back in surprise and horror as two giant sets of claws sprung from its arms. It yelled again, swinging its arms around in a frenzy to kill whatever had woke it up.

Leon leaned back against the large support pillar in the middle of the dungeon- he had no more doubts as to what the room was used for- as he studied the beast before him. "Just what the hell are you?" he mused aloud, hefting his shotgun to a more useable position.

The freak paused at his words, its head turning to directly where Leon stood, its stitched eyes glaring at him. It set itself, one leg behind the other. Leon, in a flash of insight, realized it had set itself up for a charge.

"Aw-"

He cut himself off with a dive to his left, the tips of the mutants claws just barely grazing his calf. He hit the ground, rolled, and was back on his feet, running back to the staircase that led to his only hope for survival. He took the flight of steps two at a time, now able to see Ashley's look of horror at the sight of the disfigured beast below-

-when the thick metal door made an appearance, it had slid down and locked faster than Leon could think. He was now locked in a room with a psychotic beast, bound and determined to kill him. Only one word could come out of Leon's mouth at this point.

"Typical."

His words, however, had once again attracted the attention of the deranged mutant. Its roar preceded it as it made another charge at Leon, its left arm back, ready to skewer him on the extended claw.

Leon, out of options, dove to his right, back into the pit. He gave a slight grunt of pain as he landed on his back, the cold stones dug into his back as he struggled back to his feet. He heard the beasts claw slam into the thick steel door; another yell came from it as it realized it's prey had evaded it once again.

Leon struggled back to his feet, his eyes drawn to the abomination above him, it's head swiveling left and right, trying to find him.

_Is it really that stupid? _Leon thought, as he stared at it in confusion. _How could it have missed me diving of the staircase? Those Las Plagas must have severely lowered it's intelligence……thought the bondage gear probably doesn't help._

As it's face turned back in his direction, he realized the answer to his question.

_It's eyes are sown shut. That must be why it missed me coming out of its cell, and the staircase…which must mean it relies only on hearing._

As the thought crossed his mind, he realized another possible danger. He rose his head to spot Ashley, eyes wide in fear and disgust at the disfigured beast. Leon waved his arms to get the girls attention, and when he got it, he pointed at the beast, then put a finger to his lips, pantomiming what he wanted to tell her: _Shut up, it can't kill me if it can't hear me._

She nodded in response, and set her jaw as the mutant made it's way down the stairway, which left Leon with the most important matter: just how the hell to kill the thing and get out of the dungeon.

As Leon's eyes hunted the creature to find a weak point, they fell upon it's back, which displayed a thick, yellow mass. Small tentacles wiggled out of it, which gave it the appearance of a crushed cockroach.

_Dime to a dollar that's where I gotta hit it- but how am I gonna get close enough to put a shell in it's back without getting shredded?_

The beast, now at the bottom of the stairs, made a sudden turn to it's right: it was headed right toward him. As Leon backed away from the slow-moving mutant that pursued him, his own head trying to find something that could help him, he spotted it: a golden bell, just to his left. There was no time to question as to why it was there, he could ponder it later.

Still backing away from the beast, Leon reached down. His hand searched blindly for any hard object, and he found what he was looking for almost immediately: a piece of the stone support column that the freak had busted off when it first tried to kill him.

Straightening himself up, Leon took another look at the thing in front of him-not much farther than a few feet- and heaved the rock to his left, which struck the bell square in its center, sending off a loud ring.

It had worked- the beasts head swiveled to its right, and it let out another roar as it charged once again, only to find its bladed arm jammed into the wall. As it flailed about, trying to dislodge itself, Leon moved at it, shotgun leveled at its back, fully intent on blowing a hole where the weird, puss-like sore was.

He didn't get the chance, however. The moment he moved forward, the freak had chosen that time to rear back it's right, unstuck arm, catching Leon straight in the chest. A pained grunt came from Leon as he flew back, slamming his back and head against the stone wall.

He groaned slightly as he stood, grabbing at his rib, which, in sync with his head, throbbed in pain. The freak in front of him, meanwhile, pulled at it's arm; it broke free from the wall with a crunch, and small golden pieces of metal that was once part of the bell fell to the floor.

Leon moved slowly to his left, the pain expanding in his ribs with each step. One had probably broken, or been at least bruised, but now wasn't the time to worry about it. As he made his way around the stone pillar, Leon spotted another gold object: another bell, the exact same type as the last.

Would it work twice? He had to hope that it would, because in his condition, he may not have another chance, especially if the freak got another shot in on Leon's ribs. He picked up another stone, and threw it, once again hitting the bell dead center.

The mutant, which had, unknowingly, followed Leon, let out another roar and, left arm cocked back once again, charged past Leon into the wall that housed the bell, it's arm getting caught in the stone.

Leon wasted no time; taking aim with the shotgun, he fired, and a solid chunk of the yellow mass flew off. It shrieked, but did not die; Leon pumped the shotgun, the spent shell flew from the gun, and he fired again, once again blowing off more of the beast's life support.

The freak yelled louder; the yellow puss that was it's blood fell freely on the floor. Leon pumped and fired one more time. The shriek that came from it rang with a finality to it, and it slumped dead against the wall, it's claw still stuck in the wall.

Leon let go of the shotgun with one hand, letting himself slump against the stone pillar. For the first time since entering the prison, he spoke.

"Goddamn…." he muttered, as he stared at the now dead being in front of him. Dimly, he heard the sound of the metallic door sliding up, and he wondered for a moment if it was somehow tied to the freak.

"Leon!" came a yell, and the next thing Leon knew he found Ashley, her arms wrapped around his chest, hugging him for all she was worth and, unknown to the well-meaning girl, causing more pain in Leon's ribs.

"Oh, thank God, thank God, I seriously thought that you were gonna die when that thing hit you!" Ashley cried out, still gripping onto Leon's chest.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Leon muttered, teeth together as he tried to ignore the pain. "Hey, could you let go of me? My ribs are hurting like a bitch."

"Oh…" the blond released her hold on his middle, and took a step back, a blush of embarrassment on her face. "…sorry."

"Not at all", her protector replied, his body now once again slumped against the pillar. "Oh, do me a favor, would ya? You see that lever in this freak's cell?" When Ashley nodded, he continued, "Could you go pull it for me?"

She nodded again, and taking care not to step on the corpse of the mutant, walked into the now abandoned cell. Leon listened, and was rewarded with the sound of shifting metal. As Ashley reappeared, he stood to his feet, and inclined his head towards the door.

The pair made their way back up the stone stairway, leaving behind the slowly cooling corpse of yet another freak of nature and science that had attempted to kill Leon…and had failed.

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_End_

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**Well, I think it turned out nicely. Please drop me a review, even if it says you hated it!**

**Well…..Maybe not…**


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